US forces in Kuwait were caught up in a new shooting as authorities here rounded up suspected accomplices of two Kuwaiti gunmen who killed a US marine in an attack the day before. US soldiers opened fire when their "force protection was threatened" north of Kuwait City, said a source at Camp Doha where US forces are based, north of Kuwait City. A US defense official in Washington identified the target as a civilian vehicle.

"The incident occurred on route 80," a road north of Kuwait City, the source at Camp Doha told AFP.

The soldiers had "left Camp Doha in their training vehicle and were heading to a training area north of the city and north of Mutlaa," an area where exercises are being conducted.

The incident happened a day after two Kuwaiti assailants killed a US marine and wounded another participating in "Eager Mace 2002" wargames on Kuwait's Failaka island before being gunned down.

"Force protection is important to us," the source said. "It's never our intention to be disruptive for the Kuwaiti populace."
Asked if anyone was injured, the source said this was "being investigated."

In Washington, a defense official told AFP that a US soldier in a military vehicle, a Humvee, had shot at a civilian vehicle after being threatened with a firearm by one of its occupants at around 1600 GMT (7:00 pm).

"The occupants of the Humvee shot and hit the hood of the civilian vehicle, forcing it off the road," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity. The Humvee continued on its way without stopping.

Kuwait said earlier Wednesday it was rounding up groups suspected of assisting the two young gunmen on Failaka, in what both the emirate and United States described as a "terrorist act."

Kuwaiti authorities named the assailants as Anas Ahmad Ibrahim al-Kandari, 21, and Jassem Hamad Mubarak al-Hajeri, 26.

A high-ranking Kuwaiti security source told AFP the pair had returned from Afghanistan after the September 11, 2001 terror attacks on the United States blamed on al-Qaeda, and newspapers in the emirate claimed they were linked to Osama bin Laden's terror network.

Some 10,000 US troops are based in Kuwait, mainly at Camp Doha.

The troops are currently engaged in the Operation Desert Spring exercise, which has been ongoing -- on a rotational troop basis -- since 1991 when a US-led coalition expelled Iraqi occupation forces from the emirate.

The US Navy's Fifth Fleet, meanwhile, said it was undecided whether the Eager Mace 2002 wargames on and around Failaka, 20 kilometres (12 miles) east of Kuwait City, would continue.

Kuwaiti state minister for foreign affairs Sheikh Mohammad Sabah al-Sabah said the emirate, a close US ally, was "taking the appropriate steps to round up those who we think provided some assistance to the terrorists."

"There are groups which have been brought in for questioning and groups which we think supported these terrorists.

Therefore we are taking all necessary steps to safeguard the interests of Kuwait," he said.

Sheikh Mohammad said there were "numerous" people in custody, but that "this number has been changing by the minute."

The minister said US forces were in Kuwait for one reason alone: "To protect Kuwait's security and to participate (in exercises) with Kuwaiti armed forces.

"For these (US) forces to be attacked, we consider this an attack against Kuwait's national interests," he said.

The two assailants, who attacked the marines as they were conducting an urban assault exercise on Failaka, were buried in Kuwait City on Wednesday, Muslim activist Mohammad al-Awadhi told AFP.

Awadhi, who personally knew the two men, said a row erupted at the cemetery when friends of the assailants, who like them had been in Afghanistan, insisted they be buried as martyrs.

"The (friends) stood up and started praising the two men and asking that they be accepted as martyrs and that we should not be ashamed" of what they did, said Awadhi.

The friends also said the men made wills requesting they be buried as martyrs.

Awadhi, who stressed his opposition to the attack, believes it was planned and executed by the two assailants alone.

At least two people connected to the assailants are currently being held by the emirate's state security, the Kuwaiti security source said. "Last night many people, non-Kuwaitis, were questioned and released," he added.

Kuwait's armed forces chief Major General Ali al-Momen said the two assailants, "who are well known Kuwaitis, have got an affiliation, possibly with certain extremist groups," and that the attack was "well planned."

The White House said it was concerned that al-Qaeda may have ties to the two gunmen.

"We're continuing to gather information about it. We are exploring the concerns that it is tied to al-Qaeda, and we cannot rule that out," said spokesman Ari Fleischer.

A Kuwaiti defense source added that arrangements were being made to fly the wounded marine out of Kuwait to Germany on Wednesday. "The marine is in stable condition, in intensive care, recovering from an abdomen wound," he said.

PHOTO CAPTION
The Kuwaiti government said on October 9, 2002 that it had arrested a number of people suspected of aiding two Kuwaitis who killed a U.S. Marine and wounded another this week in what the Gulf state called a terrorist attack. The attackers named by Kuwait as Anas Ahmad Ibrahim Abdel-Rehim al-Kandari, shown here, and Jassem Hamad Mubarak Salem al-Hajri, were killed after they opened fire on U.S. troops during a military exercise on a Kuwaiti island in the Gulf. (Al-Rai Al-Aam Newspaper via Reuters)